With the Nov. 29 elections less than 12 days away, election fever went up a notch yesterday with major political parties holding large rallies across the nation.
As both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have set central Taiwan as the key battleground, the DPP staged its first large-scale campaign rally in central Greater Taichung last night, while Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the KMT held two rallies.
At the DPP rally, its Greater Taichung mayoral candidate, Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Changhua County commissioner candidate Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) and Nantou County commissioner candidate Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) trumpeted their campaign platforms, with hopes to turn the tables for the party across the board in the region.
Their campaign messages revolved around themes of regional governance and integrated construction.
Lin said that people should use their votes to call for an end to a government plagued with fiascoes and legal accusations, and one that never lived up to its promises.
“It is time to use your votes to determine Taiwan’s future, the time to welcome a new era,” Lin said, adding that he, Wei and Lee were in agreement on many issues and that they would be responsible — if elected — for making central Taiwan a better and more prosperous region.
Separately, Hu held two rallies in the city’s Dali (大里) and Wurih (烏日) districts to bolster support.
Hu’s wife Shao Hsiao-ling (邵曉鈴) called on supporters to vote for Hu, saying that he has great hopes that the city will one day become internationally renowned.
The director of Hu’s campaign office in Dali District, Lee Huan-hsiang (李煥湘), also tried to raise spirits by saying that Hu’s popularity was not trailing rival Lin by 10 percent as some polls suggested.
Hu, who has been in office for 12 years, said it does not matter how long one has been in office, but what one has accomplished during that time.
“My rivals keep pointing to how long I have been in office because they cannot find other faults with my governance,” Hu said, adding that his record was clean and that he hoped the city’s voters would vote for him again.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
China is deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Ministry of National Defense said today. Speaking in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. China's military has yet to comment and has not confirmed it is carrying out any exercises. "The current scale is
RSS